1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a counting device, and more particularly to a coin counting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, an output construction of a coin counting machine disclosed in Taiwanese Publication No. M271212 includes two lateral plates 11, a plate block 12 disposed between the lateral plates 11, a side plate 13 disposed between the lateral plates 11 and spaced apart from the plate block 12, a coin discharging passage 14 defined among the lateral plates 11, the plate block. 12, and the side plate 13, a slot unit 15 formed through the lateral plates 11 and in spatial communication with the coin discharging passage 14, and a counting unit 16 disposed on one of the lateral plates 11.
With further reference to FIG. 2, the counting unit 16 includes a counter 161 disposed on the lateral plates 11, a contact member 162 disposed pivotally on the one of the lateral plates 11, a bearing 163 disposed on a right end of the contact member 162 and extending into the slot 15, and a torsion spring 164 for biasing the contact member 162.
When a coin 100 is moved in the coin discharging passage 14 to contact the bearing 163, as shown in FIG. 1, the bearing 163 is pushed to move upwardly in a direction 17 (see FIG. 1) to thereby move a left end of the contact member 152 away from the counter 161. Upon discharge of the coin 100 from the coin discharging passage 14, the left end of the contact member 152 is biased by the torsion spring 164 to move into contact with the counter 161, as shown in FIG. 1, for counting the number of the discharged coins 100.
The aforesaid output construction 1 of the coin counting machine suffers from the following disadvantages:                1. Narrow applicable range: Since the slot 15 is disposed at the right side of the output construction 1, the coins 100 can drop from only the right side of the output construction 1. If the coins 100 need to drop from the left side of the output construction 1, an additional output construction having a slot 15 at the left. side thereof will be required. As such, the applicable range of the output construction 1 is reduced.        2. Difficult adjustment: Since rotation of the contact member 162 is driven by the torsion spring 164, when the size of the coins 100 is changed, it is necessary to replace the torsion spring 164 with a new one having a different elastic modulus, thereby resulting in inconvenience during adjustment.        3. Low counting accuracy: since the contact member 162 is driven by the torsion spring 164 to rotate relative to the counter 161 between a contact position and a non-contact position, when the torsion spring 164 is fatigued, the counting accuracy of the counter 161 reduces gradually.        